The US basketball players have conceded at the World Cup in China after the quarter-final against France, the next bankruptcy and have fallen to a historically poor result. In the duel of the failed ex-gold favorites, the defending champion lost against Serbia in the placement round in Dongguan 89:94 (40:44).
For the Americans on Saturday it is only about the loser of the match between Poland and the Czech Republic for seventh or eighth. So far, the five-time World Champion had never finished a World Cup worse than finished sixth in the 2002 home tournament.
After the 79: 89 defeat in the quarter-final against France, the team of coach legend Gregg Popovich still seemed completely disturbed. The equally disappointed Serbs of former Bayern coach Sasa Djordjevic outclassed their opponent in the first quarter 32: 7. Although the US fought back again, but had to give in the final stage beaten. Serbia's NBA top star Bogdan Bogdanovic stood out with 28 points and the Americans did not manage 22 points from Harrison Barnes.
Despite the weak performance without numerous NBA superstars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and James Harden, the domestic reactions to the World Cup failure were less harsh than they had been in the past. "This is not a disaster for the US, that's no shame, it's not a lack of commitment," commented NBC. "This is just another sign that the basketball universe is changing."
But at least at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is expected that the US team strikes back. "If USA Basketball wants to dominate these tournaments in the future again, it will have to improve the structure of the squad and the participation rate of superstars," demanded ESPN.